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Absence of Transplant Facility

Ctg fails to cater to two lakh kidney patients

Arun Bikash Dey, cag
Even with over 2 lakh people in greater Chittagong suffering from chronic renal failure, the gradual loss of kidney function, the region has no facilities for kidney transplant, its final treatment.
According to Bangladesh Kidney Foundation statistics, around 20 lakh people in the region suffer from different kidney related diseases and among them 2 lakh suffer from chronic renal failure. Furthermore, 20,000 patients of kidney failure need regular dialysis, which is only affordable for 10 percent of the patients.
Ultimately, patients of kidney failure have no option but to go for kidney transplant, said Dr MA Kashem, general secretary of Bangladesh Kidney Foundation, Chittagong district unit.
However, Chittagong Medical
KEY POINTS 20,000 need dialysis
Only patients get it at CMCH Dialysis cost high at pvt hospitals Transplant final treatment 40 transplants possible at CMCH a year if facility available
College Hospital (CMCH), the only tertiary-level public hospital in greater Chittagong, has neither the facilities required for kidney transplant nor a post fora surgeon for such transplants.
Until kidney transplantation is managed, patients need dialysis thrice a week for survival, an expensive treatment that few people can afford. In government hospitals, the approximate cost for dialysis isTk 4,500 per month.
Besides, CMCH has only nine haemodialysis machines, and so the hospital cannot cater to most of the patients. Aside from CMCH, only six clinics in Chittagong have dialysis machines.
Dr Kashem, also an associate professor at CMCH's nephrology department, said there are many patients in the waiting list for dialysis at CMCH.
He said many patients are forced to go without treatment as they cannot avail themselves of treatment at CMCH either for
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unavailability of equipment or for financial constraints.
He added that a person in the waiting list can only get services if another patient, who is on dialysis, either gets a kidney transplant or dies.
Mohammad Faruk, 50, a patient suffering from renal failure, was recently seen lying helpless in one of the beds at the hospital's nephrology ward. His wife, Kamrun Nahar, sat beside him with a blank look on her face.
Kamrun Nahar said Faruk was diagnosed with kidney failure in February, and doctors have suggested Faruk be on dialysis.
H owever, the waiting list for haemodialysis at CMCH is too long, and the family cannot afford to go to a private clinic.
In private hospitals, a patient needs to spend about Tk 25,000 per month for dialysis, said Dr Kashem.
Another patient, Shirin Bhuiyan, 45, was almost unconscious at CMCH's nephrology ward.
"My mother was diagnosed with kidney failure about eight months back," said Farhana Bhuiyan, daughter of Shirin.
"We came all the way from Comilla...but we cannot afford dialysis," she said.
Contacted, Subarna Barua, a staff at CMCH's nephrology ward, said at present, 85 people are on the list for dialysis, adding that many patients come to fill in the application for dialysis, but seeing the long queue they turnback.
In 2008, the government took an initiative to carry out kidney transplants in CMCH, said Dr Pradip Kumar Dutta, head of CMCH's nephrology department, adding that during that time a team of doctors from Dhaka carried out two successful kidney transplants.
However, the hospital could not seize the initiative due to a lack of funds and manpower.
Dr Emran Bin Yunus, former head of CMCH's nephrology department, said a full-fledged team, comprising transplant surgeons, urologists, nephrologists, lab medicine team, anaesthetic team and trained nurses, is required for carryingout renal transplants.
He said initiatives take a long time to be implemented at CMCH as it has to go through the ministries concerned first. If the hospital had an autonomous body controlling it, then kidney transplants would be possible at CMCH, he added.
Dr Nurul Huda, another associate professor of CMCH Nephrology Department, said if trained and adequate manpower is appointed and with adequate funds, around 40 renal transplants could be held at CMCH per year.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country also paints a bleak picture in this regard, as besides few private clinics in the capital, only Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in the capital has facilities for kidney transplant.
For kidney transplant, about Tk 1.5 lakh is needed at the hospital and about Tk 2 lakh in Bangladesh Kidney Foundation in Dhaka, while the cost isoverTk 13 lakh in other private hospitals, said Huda.